Ember
by deathandlemons
Summary: My first story, please don't flame, sorry for spelling errors, and enjoy, I think.


Disclaimer: I DON'T OWN YOUNG JUSTICE, GODDAMMIT. I HATE THESE STUPID DISCLAIMERS.

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Running through the forest, barely containing my powers, is how I'll start this story. The name's Annie Gravol and I have the power of fire. I can pretty much do whatever I want with it, and the power extends to lava, sparks, and some lightning. So... Yeah. I'm kind of like a total badass. Wo. You may be wondering why I'm running through the woods. It's because I'm being chased by Torrent. He's a villain with the ability to control watery things, my archenemy, and my brother, Taylor Gravol. He's 19 while I'm 14, but thinks that I ruined his life because, when I was 4, our parents died in an explosion that gave us these powers and he thinks that I was the one who caused it, which I didn't.

"Why can't you just die!?" he shrieked, flying behind me. I don't like flying but I can a lot better than him, if I do say so myself.

"Why can't you just leave me alone?!" I screamed back, holding back because I would only get doused.

The two of us, despite being siblings, look entirely different. He has short, light blue hair and I have long, flaming red hair. He's 6 foot 4 and I'm only 4 foot 10. He has tanner skin while mine's pale. His eyes are a crystalline blue, mine are a pale orangey-red color, so I wear sunglasses all the time to hide them. Taylor always wears all blue denim to our fights, which is really odd to me for some reason. I usually wear a black t-shirt, black cargo capris, black converses, black fingerless gloves, and a domino mask so I wouldn't break my sunglasses. I wore black because a, it was the only color in fire proof cloth and b, if it got scorch marks on it, they wouldn't show.

I made a u-turn around a tree and began to run even faster, hoping my brother wouldn't find me. He had found me at my last identity and I needed another one fast to get anywhere outside of Safety City, which the name is a lie. I was planning on going to Central City after this one, but I was afraid that he'd gone through my stuff, so on I decided to go to Gothem. Maybe I could ask for some help from Batman or Robin.

Anyone.

Reaching the outskirts of town, I biked the short distance to the apartment I rented, shoved all my clothes and valuables into a duffle bag, and threw it over my shoulder, hopping onto my motorbike, which was hidden in the bushes, and sped off toward my new home. But I had to make a stop first.

A few hours later (around two in the morning), and about a hundred miles off coarse, I stopped in front of a different apartment complex in Star City. I got off and walked up to one of the doors, hesitating a second before knocking as loudly as possible.

"Who is it?" rang out from inside.

"Dorothy. I've come to speak with the wizard," I called out wearily. It was our code. The door burst open with Roy behind it. I must have looked terrible, maybe cut up and bruised all over, but I couldn't tell 'cause I was numb.

He glanced nervously behind him, "Sorry dude, but I've got a friend here tonight. I can't give you place to stay. But, I've got your next batch of cards. Just give me a second." He walked away from the door to get them. Technically,this was illegal, but we hadn't been caught for almost eight years and it was necessary for survival, so neither of us complained.

An unfamiliar voice shouted, "Hey Roy, who's that?"

"Just someone who I owe from my last poker game. It'll just be a second," he called over his shoulder before shoving the paperwork into my hands, "Go, before he gets suspicious. Go!" And I ran. Down the steps and to my bike I went, clutching my precious papers to my chest. I shoved them into my duffle bag so I could drive and pulled away from the complex as fast as I could, hoping I could reach Gothem City before either it was morning, or I passed out from exhaustion.

Amazingly, both happened. I got to my new house around nine in the morning, signed all the papers the real estate agent had (why she was there, I had no idea), and promptly passed out in an upstairs bedroom.

I woke up the next day around seven to find a note in the kitchen saying that I had to sign up for school within three days or face the truancy charges. Yep, welcome home indeed.

I spent most of the day looking through all the paperwork to make sure everything was in order so I wouldn't get arrested and unpacking, finding internet pictures of a family and posting them throughout the house so I'd seem normal. I placed only one truly family picture. It was photo of my brother and I from when I was four and he was nine, and it went next to my bed on a small table.

I signed up for school, a scholarship got me into Gothem Academy, and ran around town for the next hour afterwards getting all my supplies. So the next day, I got up, changed into a uniform, and put in colored contacts that were evergreen. I rode my bike to school, I had gotten an actual bicycle on my day out, and locked onto the racks outside, which were empty except for mine.

"Ah," I whirled around to see Bruce Wayne a couple feet behind me, "You must be Alice Woodborough, right?"

My backstory said I was from Ireland, which I technically was, so I said, "Aye sir. And you're Mr. Wayne, I'm guessing."

He smiled and let a chuckle escape, "Indeed I am. I think you'll find it very nice here, or at least I hope."

I grinned back, "Aye sir, I hope so too. Which way is it to the administrative office?"And he led me down a hallway filled with tall students in uniforms, all of who stared at me so intensely I thought I would explode, into a small white room filled with living room furniture.

"Could you wait here a second while I check you in? You can read if you please, I'll only be a little while," he said, walked out of the room, and shut the door before I could even say a word.

"Oh, okay. See you soon," I whispered at the closed door and sat down in one of the small chairs in the room. I picked up a book, Code, the third in the Virals series, and began to read. I'd read it before and always loved how I related to the characters, by hiding my powers from the rest of society and wearing the contacts.

A few weeks later, I was settled into the academy, but I still didn't have a friend, not that I cared much. The only kid I was even remotely friendly to was Dick Grayson, mostly because he wouldn't leave me alone during lunch and free period. I had almost lost my cool twice, but neither time did anything burn, except for maybe a few poles were melted out of shape, all suspected of some odd petty thief. Life was great and pretty quiet, at least for me. That is, until Roy called me one night.

"Hey Harper, whatcha need?" I asked, picking up the line immediately despite it being almost one in the morning.

Heavy breathing filled my ear, "Huh, oh, Ember, right. Look, sorry for waking you up so late but right now we're in really big trouble and we need your help."  
I frowned, "Who's we?"

"Young Justice and I. They called me in to help and now we've got a friend of yours on our tail and he won't back o- AH!" he shrieked, in a very manly way, and it sounded like the phone hit the ground.

Something else picked it up, "Hello dear sister. How nice to hear your voice again. Your friend here is in quite a lot of pain, and the rest of his little team is no match for me and will be in trouble within another half hour. You're much more fun to play with. So if you want to help them... I'd fire up, excuse the pun, your little motorbike and head over to the Star City Cooling Plant before I get... Bored. See you soon, sis." My brother hung up.  
I stood frozen for a second before bolting out the door, jumping on my motorcycle, and streaking down the street like a silent comet.

Five minutes later, I arrived, my costume and mask on. The whole place the covered in ice, nearly a foot thick in some places, and I guessed that Torrent might be working with Icicle Jr for this, which would be why Young Justice would be called in. As I got near the door, I heard a voice.  
"Why are you here?" Batman growled, stepping out in front of me.

I crossed my arms, "I was called in to help by a friend. You can question me later, but right now, I'm needed to help." I walked right passed the Dark Knight and placed my hands on the ice blocking the door. I concentrated and fifty foot flames spread out along the iced building, freeing the entrance almost immediately.

After it was de-frozen, I stopped the flames and, taking in a deep breath, kicked open the door. I turned back to the surprised hero, "Coming?" before walking into the darkness.

I stepped into the middle of a big factory room, Batman sneaking along the edges of the room. The team was hanging from the ceiling, frozen in place, but a little heat took care of that quickly, as well as waking them up. With the six groggy little heroes safely on the floor, I walked up to Artemis and asked, "Where's Roy? Where'd they take him?"  
Her eyes widened, "How did you know-"

"No time to explain, but he called me in for help about five minutes ago. Where is he now?" I demanded.

She stammered, "While Icicle Jr was hanging us up, I saw him get dragged off toward the freezer by the other guy. I think his name was-"

"Torrent, yeah I know. All of you should leave before it gets messy and that includes you Batman. I'll get Red Arrow out alive, but I can't promise about his condition. Just be ready to intercept Icy on his way out," I said and bolted off down a hallway that had a stream of water dribbling out of it. Turning a couple of corners, I came to another door that was covered in ice and, after melting it in three seconds flat, kicked it down with a large boom.

In the middle of the room was Roy, standing in between Torrent and Icicle Jr, with a blue face that eerily matched the other two. Forming a flaming blade in my hands, I pointed it at Jr's chest and said, "Give me back my friend, or you'll end up having to change your name to Puddle Jr."

He looked terrified, probably because he had gone into the plan not knowing about me, and said, "Take him! Please! Just don't melt me!" He let go of his side of Roy and started to escape when I shot a giant metal staple at his middle, restraining him if he didn't want to be a puddle.

I turned back to Torrent, "And you will let go of my friend unless you want to be water vapor."

He thought for a moment, "Nope. I've taken a liking to him."

I snarled, "I said, let. Him. GO." I lifted the sword to his face, which was pretty high up for me, and pushed it against his nose, getting a hiss and burst of steam in response.  
He grinned, "You shouldn't have done that, little sis." Then he let go of Roy and lunged at me, shifting into a giant mass of water and covering me.

"AH!" I yelped as pain blossomed up and down my body, the skin I some places instantly cracking because of the temperature difference between us.

"I've grown stronger, sister," Torrent said, reforming behind me, "and soon, you will be nothing but an annoying bug that just won't go away to me. This was merely a way to warn you, stay away from me or I will kill you, family or not. Until next time, Annie." He said my name with such venom that I shivered. Then he turned back into the water and leaked down through a sewer grate in the floor.

I stood for another minute before slowly, because the long bleeding cuts everywhere hurt every time I moved, turning to Roy, who seemed to have just passed out earlier and was waking up. "Hey Speedy, how're you doing?" I asked softly.

He grabbed his head, "Uh, I just have a big headache. Thanks for coming, the heat woke me up. Icy's gone, though. I saw him run out... You okay?"

I nodded, "Just dandy. He's figured out how to do the opposites thing, with super cold water on me while I was burning, you were talking about last time we spoke. It makes my skin split right down to the muscle and gush a bit, or at least that's what it looks like." I grimaced as he stood and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Come on, I bet you owe some friends an explaination," he said as he steered me back down the hallway.

I laughed, "Don't I ever!"

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So, should I continue this? Why or why not? Who should I pair together? Please tell, thanks for reading!


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